This invention relates generally to the field of hand tools and specifically to the field of hand tools for use after a catastrophic emergency.
Catastrophic emergencies such as floods, landslides, tornados, hurricanes, windstorms, earthquakes, etc. can suddenly strike a residence, a business, a neighborhood or an entire metropolitan area without warning. It is well recognized that individual homeowners should take all steps possible to prepare for such emergencies.
It is universally recommended that, as one step in preparing for a catastrophic emergency, individual homeowners be prepared to shut off pipe lines carrying natural gas into their residences. This step is important to prevent explosions from weakened gas pipes, joints and valves. For similar reasons, it is also recommended that homeowners be prepared to shut off water lines flowing into their residences to minimize the dangers of sudden water line failures and resultant flooding.
It is also generally believed to be important that residential homeowners have handy in the event of a catastrophic disaster tools for opening doorways and other enclosure access ways which might become wedged shut during the catastrophe, and tools for rapidly digging through rubble and debris.
At least four different tools are presently required to prepare a homeowner for the four above-described post-catastrophe tasks. A first tool is needed to shut off gas lines. (Gas line shutoff valves generally are located above ground, usually along the side of the house near the gas flow meter. To close the valve, most gas shutoff valves require turning a valve stem one quarter turn. The valve steam usually has a wrench attachment which is about an inch long and about 7/16 inches wide.) A second tool is needed to shut off water lines. (The shutoff valve for most residential water valves are generally located in a concrete box which is disposed below ground. The valve is generally turned off by turning a valve stem a quarter turn. The valve stem for water shutoff valves is usually quite different from the valve stem for most gas shutoff valves, having a square cross-section about 1/2 inch on a side.) A third tool is needed to pry open wedged-together doors and other access ways, and a fourth tool is needed to rapidly dig through debris and rubble.
It would be highly desirable to have a single tool which could accomplish all of the above-described four post-catastrophe functions. Such a tool could be stored at a single residence location known to all of the resident's members. Such a tool should be inexpensive to manufacture and simple to use. Unfortunately, such a tool does not exist.